A fashion student took her own life a month after her ex-boyfriend had killed himself, an inquest heard.

Hannah Greensides, 21, was found dead by her father in a field near the family’s home on Heyes Lane, Alderley Edge, on June 15, hours after she had helped scatter the ashes of former boyfriend Julian Barthel.

He had been found hanged at Stormy Point, Alderley Edge, on May 2 by a dog walker.

During an inquest on Wednesday a friend of Mr Barthel, who had met Hannah while working at The Merlin pub in Alderley Edge, claimed the pair had made a ‘suicide pact’ just a fortnight before he died.

An inquest into Mr Barthel’s death in September had also heard that he had left a suicide note urging Hannah to watch a film with a suicide plotline.

But Hannah’s devastated father Nigel Greensides completely refuted the witnesses’ claims the couple had promised to kill themselves together, calling the suggestion ‘rubbish’.

He said: “There was no evidence there was a suicide pact, my daughter took her own life but there’s nothing to suggest that. I think it’s wrong to suggest that.”

Instead he told the inquest that Hannah, who had experienced mental health difficulties including depression, had been ‘abused’ during her relationship with Julian, and that he had even been reported to the police after one assault.

He added that Hannah, who had been working as a waitress during a break from her studies, had told her younger sister that she had to leave Mr Barthel because he ‘was bad for me’ before her death.

The inquest heard Hannah had started to develop mental health difficulties upon leaving home for university, and that Mr Barthel’s suicide had ‘torn her apart’.

Her father told the inquest at Crewe’s Municipal Building: “She was very down. She found it very very hard.

“We decided to go away after the funeral to give us something else to do. We went to Istanbul for four days and it was one of the best family holidays we have ever had.

“But when we got back it was back to reality, Hannah was quite down.”

Hannah’s GP told the inquest that Hannah had a history of self-harm and depression. And a coroner also heard that she had been prescribed anti-psychotic medication and anti-depressants to combat her conditions.

But a number of Hannah’s friends and her family told the inquest before her death she was ‘getting better’, and making plans for the future.

Recording a formal cause of death by suicide, Senior Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg remarked: “Hannah was a very intelligent young lady who was also dogged by depression but led a normal life apart from problems that surfaced from time to time.

“She entered into a relationship with a young man that at times was fulfilling but at times had negative effects, a volatile relationship in one moment there was some physical violence and at another they were enjoying each other’s company as if nothing had happened.

“Hannah resolved to end the relationship and if it had ended there I think this tragedy would not have unravelled. Sadly the person in question took his own life and that clearly had a depressing effect on Hannah.”